Friday, August 29, 2014

Tile of the Week #27

The latest Tile of the Week entry. Number 27 is a four-way crossing with some heat. Who knows what that statue is, perhaps the demon lord of lava and flame.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Wilds - Rivers: Nature's Roadways

Stymied by the lake and river to the south, the party turns east, following the river's course in hopes of finding a ford that will allow passage. Almost immediately, they regret this choice. The shores of the lake and river's banks prove to be swampy, overgrown, and wet; the group has to hack and force a winding path through clinging briars, soggy reeds, and dense stands of willow and birch. Ingvild finds a nice pool of quicksand, and Rocky the mule narrowly avoids another. It takes the rest of the afternoon to progress only a few miles along the treacherous riverbank.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

PBE Games - August Releases

This is just a quick catch-up post on the latest releases from PBE Games. August has been heavy with Uncommon Ground texture packs, and One Page tables. but that's going to change soon, with the release of a new round of Dungeons in Blue geomorphs this week. Here's the already released:

  • Shale Swirl - is a smoothly textured stone pattern with a swirling color scheme.
  • Liquified -shows a flowing stone texture with a soft, monochromatic finish.
  • Tiger - a striped stone pattern with a grainy surface.
  • Sheen - is a smooth stone surface with a flowing, somewhat shiny pattern.
  • Ravaged - is a rough and mottled stone surface.
  • One Page #20 - Strange Writings - twenty odd books, scrolls, and tomes for your game, each with a minor hook.
  • One Page Pack #4 - A discount bundle containing One Page #16 - #20.
  • The One Page Big Deal - An even larger bundle containing One Page #1 - #20.


Uncommon Ground Shale Swirl preview
As I mentioned, there will be three new Dungeons in Blue geomorph sets out this week, sets V, W, and X (curse you alphabet with a non-divisible by three letter count!), which will add 35+ new tiles to the collection. Sets Y and Z will be a bit different. Each contains four double- or quad-sized tiles containing some larger rooms and caves.Of course they have the usual entry and exit layout so they connect up to the rest of the series correctly.
Dungeons in Blue Set V preview
So... that's it for now. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Wilds - Into the Trees

After leaving Tragor's Hold, the party headed southwest, intent on finding a path to Blackpool Maze. However the more cautious members of the party are still pushing for a return to town to restock and resupply.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Weekend Reading

A while back, I posted up some links to a pair of novels written by my good friend and fellow gamer, Micah R. Sisk. Here are two more!

Born Into Shadows - Five posthumans working as a crew together for the first time are sent on a fact finding mission to a remote and seemingly uninteresting nebula. Their mission: investigate rumors of a large object hidden in the nebula, an object said not to be of modern posthuman design. Only one of the crew knows the identity of the expedition's mysterious backers and...what it is they fear.

Watching the Watcher - A frantic call from a space lane traffic controller is fielded by a helpline representative. Out in the main asteroid belt, stationed on a sophisticated three-kilometer long space habitat, why does the caller find himself utterly alone? Why can't he remember his time away from work? Why does he never leave his cubestation? And why does the helpline rep keep fielding exactly this type of call?

Both are science fiction short stories, both available for less than a buck. Check em out, and while you're there, if horror is more your thing, check out my own short story, Blink of the Light.


Tile of the Week #26

The latest Tile of the Week entry. This is another quarter-tile layout, a not-quite-connected four-way intersection with some stairs included.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Wilds - Bacon

After a few hours of negotiation, the party retires to the camp to discuss options and prepare for tomorrow's meet with the villagers. So far, so good. Will things continue in the same vein? Let's find out.

Monday, August 18, 2014

The Wilds - Friends?

The party has established peaceful contact with the inhabitants of Tragor's Hold, but they only have a foot in the door. Can they negotiate with their scanty resources? Let's find out.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Tile of the Week #25

The latest Tile of the Week entry. This and the next few week's entries are going to be quarter-tile intersections. This one is a fortified four-way, with some special treats in store for the unwary traveler.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Wilds - Foot in the Door

The party is trying to negotiate with the locals they've encountered, with limited success.

Monday, August 11, 2014

The Wilds - Murder-hobos at the gate

The party has stumbled across a small settlement protected by a palisade on their travels. Rather than killing everyone, they decide to parlay. After a few weeks in the woods, dungeon, and death pit, they're looking a little rough. We'll see how this goes.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Tile of the Week #24

The latest Tile of the Week entry. This week it's a natural grand cavern crossed by a small rock-strewn river. What's that on the river bottom?

Tile #24 Player Version



All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click / save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle, if you're feeling lazy.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Wilds - Path, No Shrubbery

The relatively fresh trail puts the party on alert. Most of the group want to follow the trail south, away from the bog, but Maro and Saurabh want to check out the northern path too. Dagmarten agrees to go with the pair and they head north. Their plan is to follow it for an hour at most and see what they can see. The others poke around the woods along the edge of the bog and curse the rain while they wait for the trio to come back.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Wilds - Pathless

With the sun already past noon, but with easier terrain ahead, the party pushes westward in hopes of finding more signs of old roads, buildings, or ruins. As they travel the lynx kits, now well on their way to full-grown, range out and away from the party, restless with the slow pace and lack of food. Prey has been scarce among the pines, and both kits are looking a bit thin. Rawon's view from the hill-top proves optimistic. The ground ahead is lower, but ridges and dips make straight-line travel tough. The next four or five hours are slow going, and more than once the party finds itself drifting off course north or south. As evening comes on the terrain finally softens, in more ways than one. The hills turn to gentle slopes, but the dips become boggy and wet, with pools of dark-stained water forming in the lowest areas.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

PBE Games - New Stuff

The PBE Games release schedule has been fairly light over the last couple weeks, but it's time for a quick update on what's gone out the door.


Let's start with the Tile of the Week Pack, which collects up my regular Tile of the Week posts from here on the blog into a convenient bundle. It's a pay what you want product, compatible with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. There are two new Uncommon Ground textures: Harsh Land a rough stone texture with a defined horizontal grain; and Lost Rivers, a pebbled stone texture with definitive flow marks. Finally there is a new One Page table, #19 Eerie Sites and Scenes, twenty creepy places you can drop into any fantasy or horror game.

That's it for updates today, told you it'd be quick. Thanks as always for checking things out! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Uncommon Ground - Lost Rivers preview

Friday, August 1, 2014

Tile of the Week #23

The latest Tile of the Week entry. This week's entry is a half-tile grand hallway with regular cross-halls. There's also a little secret tucked away in one wall.

Tile #23 - Player Version



All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click / save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle, if you're feeling lazy.